Tag Archives: path

In a nutshell: Path, a facebook-like social networking app, recently found themselves in hot water after a programmer discovered they’re uploading your entire address book to their Web servers when you use it. Mike Arrington’s proposed solution is they should “nuke” all their data (and as disclosure, he’s an investor in the company). My initial reaction is this is absolutely correct, but doesn’t necessarily address my real concern – moving forward, can I actually decide to trust Path or not?

I am in the “no photos of my kids on Facebook” camp. Why? Because Facebook has demonstrated a fairly deliberate motive to not keep my data private. The company actually believes privacy is “Dead” so why would they even care about this kind of a thing? They don’t, and that’s their decision, and since I think privacy is alive and well, I make the (easy) choice not to share anything about my children there (for so many reasons, but here’s one if you need it). Enter Path.

When I first tried Path (and by the way, it’s one of the most beautiful apps I’ve seen for my iPhone), it seemed fairly clear they were pretty dedicated to privacy and your “real” social network. Initially you were limited to 50 friends, and all sharing happened within the confines of the app itself.

Now, the 50 friends limit is up to 150, the app enables sharing to Twitter, Facebook, and other platforms, and, lo and behold, there’s a privacy fail.

One can quickly look back to Facebook and say “privacy fail = no big deal”, unless, of course, your value proposition is around privacy!

As they say, it takes a lifetime to build trust, and mere moments to utterly destroy it.

Path is at a crossroads. They must decide what they are, and what their stance on privacy is, and they must do it imminently. If they want to be “the social network you can trust”, they have that opportunity. But they are on the verge of squandering it. Which leaves them as “the social network that’s not Facebook or Google+” and in that mode, I can’t imagine them doing more than just eking it out if they continue down this… wait for it… path.

I’d love to see Dave Morin (Path’s CEO) use this moment to step up, make a public statement on what the company’s vision is and what they stand for. I for one hope they don’t choose… poorly.

Sharing your favorites seems to be the hip thing to do, so I thought I’d share my absolute favorite apps on both my iPhone and iPad (not including any default iOS apps). These are basically the apps I use all the time, and really enjoy using. There’s also quite a few apps I use daily, but might not like as much, as well as apps I think are amazing, but only use on a very infrequent basis. And there are also apps I don’t much like and rarely use, but I didn’t really see the point in including those…

One other note – I picked apps from all categories, including games, social, etc. Also, I didn’t deliberately pick 10, it just worked out that way. First up – iPhone fave’s (in no particular order, btw).

Chef’s Feed is a fun app for foodies (wannabe foodies as well). The app has a list of the “top” chefs of a city, and said chefs have picked their favorite dishes (not restaurants) to eat. The app lets you make a bucket list of dishes that appeal to you, and also is a handy way to find a good bite when you aren’t sure what to eat. Free app.

It’s like Scrabble, only more “balanced” so players at many levels can really enjoy the game. Vocabulary and knowledge of “Scrabble words” is very helpful, and tile placement strategy is essential to win, but regardless, it’s possibly the best non real-time game time waster app out there. Free and paid versions.

Simply put: Test Flight lets app developers send you their apps prior to putting them in the iTunes App store. It’s great for previewing or testing out apps in development. If you are an app developer and are not using Test Flight, you should start now. Free to consumers, paid by developers.

GrubHub is an app that replaces all the crappy little delivery menus restaurants leave on your door (though hey, free rubber band). They have tons of local restaurants, plus in-app ordering, and, as pictured above, an order history which makes it super convenient to remember where you liked (or hated) to eat. Free app.

Yeah, I know, cliche, whatever. You prefer Blue Bottle, great, so do I, but $12 for a latte that takes 45 minutes to make doesn’t always work out for me. The Starbucks app does one main thing: let me not have to carry my Starbucks card around. Nice. Free app.

After Words, Temple Run is the next best time-killer game I know. Basically, you run, and run, and run, and then run a bit more. You jump, duck, pivot, and you turn yourself around, and that’s what it’s all about. Free.

Gosh I love Zite. Zite brings me articles I want, on topics I like, and does so with sickeningly good accuracy. While Twitter (and vis-a-vis Flipboard, Pulse, etc) are great for bringing me feeds on a variety of topics, the one thing these apps fail to deliver for me is topical content based on my interests, not my followers or those I am following. I open Zite, I find content I like. Life is good. Oh, and – free.

Plants vs Zombies – it’s fairly new to me, I’m having fun playing but I’m not sure how long it’ll hold my interest. Could be a winner, not sure yet. Paid.

WhiteNoise – self explanatory. Free and paid versions.

Flixter – movie lookups (solid app, just don’t get to see many movies). Free.

IMDB – satisfies inner movie nerd needs. Free.

Path – just started experimenting. Beautiful app design. Does all that Facebook stuff, only without the massive invasion of privacy. Also, just for your real-world friends (you remember those, right?). Free.

About

Jeremy Toeman is VP Products for CNET. He has over 15 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include Viggle, Dijit Media, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents nothing but his personal opinion and outlook on things.